The Valenzuela city government signed a deal with British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for the advance purchase of 640,000 coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) vaccine doses.
Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian said the vaccine doses are enough to cover 70 percent of the city's target population, excluding minors, or around 320,000 people.
He also said that the vaccines are expected to arrive in the second half of 2021, making Valenzuela City one of the first cities in the country to receive the vaccine.
Earlier, the city government announced that it set aside a P150-million budget to procure COVID-19 vaccines that will be administered for free to the residents of the city.
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte has also signed a tripartite contract with the National Task Force Against COVID-19 and AstraZeneca to buy 750,000 vaccine doses that will be given to 375,000 Quezon City residents.
Two doses are needed for the AstraZeneca vaccine to take effect. Each dose costs $10 or around P500.